Improvement in manufacture of illuminating gas



PATENT rrrcn.

JOSHUA KIDD, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN MANUFACTURE OF. ILLUMINATING GAS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,034, datedSeptember 19, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSHUA KIDD, of the city, county, and State of NewYork, have invented a new and Improved Vapor-Generator and Air- Mixer;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to makeand use the same.

My present inventiou consists in' the use for gas-making of a vaporizingand air-mixing apparatus for which I have had two patents granted to mefor the United States of America. The

first is dated March 9, 1869, No. 87,680. Its obing them under pressureinto a vaporizer heated below a decomposing heat sparingly. Secondly, inthe application of a jet of heated gasoline vapor or steam for inducingair into gas for reducing its illuminating power.

Hitherto the vapor for making a permanent gas hasv been generatedgradually in a common still or boiler, and air has been mixed with thegas by means of a pump or wet-meter drum. When a permanent gas isgenerated from the products of petroleum a body of the liquid is firstplaced in a still or boiler and is there gradually vaporized by theapplication of heat in any convenient way, and the vapor given off fromthe bulk of the liquid passes through a pipe to the decomposing retort;the result is that the vapors thus generated fly off much faster on thefirst application of heat than afterward. The

first vapors are not so rich in carbon as those it is difficult tocontrol its decomposition.

I have found in practice that a given amount of heat will change a givenamount of naphtha vapor into a permanent gas. An increased amount ofvapor exposed to the same heat will only undergo partial decomposition,but a diminished amount of vapor exposed to the same heat will beover-decomposed and deposit carbon in a retort.

In manufacturing a permanent gas from the lighter products of petroleum,I find that it is essential that vapor should enter thedecomposing-retort at an even pressure in an unvarying, regular flow, sothat every portion of the vapor entering the decomposing-retort shall beequally acted upon by the heat. My improvements secure this result, andconsist in a new method of generating the vapor before retorting thesame.

My invention is carried out as follows: Into a vaporizer having anoutlet and an inlet made round, tubular, or of other convenient shape,and heated below a decomposing heat, I force from a given elevationliquid hydrocarbon sparingly, so that the injected liquid on enteringvaporizer will instantly vaporize. In this way every portion of theliquid is vaporized, superheated, and equally mixed with all the variousgravities and parts of the petroleum having different boiling points. Ifthe petroleum or naphtha is entirely free from tarry matter I sometimescause it to enter decomposing-retort through a tube heated below adecomposing heat fixed into said retort, as the pressure of the vapornever exceeds the falling column of liquid; the exit or passage of vaporinto the decomposingretort never varies. The vapor thus generated is ina much better condition for making a fixed gas, and gives betterresults, as the extent of its decomposition can be better controlledthan when the hydrocarbon is vaporized in bulk in a boiler or still inthe ordinary way.

In carrying out my second improvement I simply generate steam orgasoline vapor imder pressure, as shown and described in my patent ofJanuary 10, 1871, No. 110,857, and inject the air thus induced into thegas-pipes or holder, if a steam-jet is used instead of a gasolinevaporjet. The steam will condense in the cooler, but gasoline vapor willact as a carbureter and enrich the gas.

The vaporizer and air-mixer required to carry out my invention are fullyshown and described in the two before-mentioned patents, and from 2. Theuse of a jet of gasoline vapor or steam, the description there given anyskilled workman escaping under pressure, for inducing air into may makethe same. rich gas, as described.

I claim-- JOSHUA KIDD. 1. The method described of first instantly yaporizing the liquid at a heat below its decomposing Witnesses: point byinjecting it into a vaporizer sparingly, CHAS. S. LUSK, and then passingthe vapors thus generated E. J. KNOWLES. (37 through a red-hot retort.

